At Monday’s forum with employers on better policies of support leading to more jobs in the business sector, the companies that are members of the Macedonian Chambers of Commerce (MCC) had the chance to learn more about ongoing employment measures and policies and about those set to be implemented throughout 2015.

“The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in cooperation with the Employment Agency so far has organized 15 forums for employers. Our goal is by the end of the year to visit all the municipalities, present the measures at local level and organize more events in cooperation with the chambers and employers’ organizations, where private companies will be informed about the opportunities offered to hire more jobless persons,” Labour Minister Dime Spasov told reporters before the forum.

MKD 666 million are envisaged in the 2015 operational plan on active employment measures and policies. Most of the funds are intended to be awarded as subsidies to private companies in order to be encouraged to open new jobs, he said.

Recently, a measure has been introduced allowing every company that will hire people under the age of 29 to be exempted from paying fees for a year. A new set of measures is also in the works covering several groups of jobless people and socially-vulnerable groups of citizens.

MCC president Daniela Arsovska said the new measures would push the companies to increase the number of employees and improve their operations.

She praised the employment measures for being created to “open new jobs, reduce the unemployment rate and the costs of companies.”

The Employment Agency’s director Vlatko Popovski said the economy was being supported as well as those without a job to find an employment by consistent implementation of the measures. “We hope the economy will be considerably boosted by these measures.”